WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08) released the following statement after voting against a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill stripped of all provisions blocking President Obama’s illegal executive actions on immigration:

“Like my constituents, I am outraged at President Obama’s unlawful actions to unilaterally rewrite our immigration laws and grant amnesty to nearly five million illegal immigrants. I stand firm in my belief that the President is carelessly ignoring the will of the American people and threatening the constitutional foundation of our nation. Just as troubling, the ramifications of his illegal amnesty scheme continue to unfold with the IRS confirming yesterday that illegal immigrants could be eligible to receive social security numbers and billions of tax dollars in benefits.

“It is past time to end these illegal actions and hold President Obama accountable, and today’s measure fails to do that. I refuse to vote to legitimize the President’s illegal actions and grant amnesty and hard-earned tax dollars to illegal immigrants. The fight is not over – I will continue to stand by my promise to do everything in my power to block President Obama’s illegal amnesty.”

In January, Rep. Hudsonvoted for the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015 (H.R. 240) to fully fund every lawful activity of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2015 and block the President’s unconstitutional executive actions on immigration.

Last Friday, Rep. Hudson voted against two short-term DHS funding bills that kicked the can down the road and failed to block the President’s unconstitutional executive actions on immigration.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following news reports that the Air Force is proceeding with its plans to dismantle the 440th Airlift Wing (AW) at Fort Bragg in violation of a legal mandate to first notify Congress, Senator Tillis raised his objections to such efforts in a letter to Air Force Secretary Debra Lee James, asking her to clarify the extent to which the Air Force has prematurely reduced the mission of the 440th AW.

Tillis highlighted the fact the that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2015 requires the Air Force to issue a report to Congress on the future C-130 force structure and give Congress sixty days to respond to the report’s recommendations. However, the Air Force never delivered the report to Congress, which was due in January, even though it is now implementing its plan to dismantle the 440th AW by removing airmen and even holding an all hands meeting to assist airmen in finding other jobs, contrary to what the law requires.

Earlier this month, Tillis publicly raised the issue of the 440th AW during Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. As Tillis noted in his letter to Secretary James, Dr. Carter responded by committing to a sit-down meeting with Tillis and other members of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation to discuss the future of the 440th AW and other elements of the Air Force’s future C-130 force structure plans.

“Prior to his confirmation I had a lengthy discussion with Secretary Carter about the future of the 440th Airlift Wing at Pope Army Airfield,” wrote Senator Tillis. “I also raised the issue publicly with the Secretary during his hearing. He publicly committed to look into the matter and sit down and discuss the 440th‘s future with me. With that in mind I am distressed that in spite of Secretary Carter’s commitment, the Air Force leadership is proceeding to this matter before he has even had time to fulfill his public assurance.”

In the letter, Tillis also raised concerns that the deactivation of the 440th AW would be a tactical and strategic mistake that negatively impacts America’s rapid reaction and Special Forces during national emergencies.

“It essentially takes the ‘air’ out of ‘airborne,’” wrote Senator Tillis. “The removal of the 440th AW at Pope Army Airfield creates unreasonable risks to the readiness of these critical airborne units, many of which must be prepared to respond to a range of contingencies on short notice. Moreover, the anticipated deactivation of the 440th AW would come at a time when the nation is facing growing uncertainty abroad that could require a military response—a response that only forces at Fort Bragg can provide.”

In accordance of Section 8 of the Union County Republican Party Plan of Organization:

8. Pursuant to Article II A (Annual Precinct Meeting)
Any person desiring to attend the County, District or State Convention, and unable to attend the Annual Precinct Meeting shall submit a signed Absentee Application for County Convention Delegate by the start of the Annual Precinct Meeting.

The accompanying form must be given to the Union County Republican Party Secretary, SHERRYL WEST or Chairman of the Credentials Committee, David Scholl; before the start of the Precinct meeting: 6:30pm Feb 12, 2015 for the precincts in the Eighth Congressional District and 6:30pm March 12, 2015 for precincts in the Ninth Congressional District.

As we all know, a serious winter storm barreled up the East coast last week, dropping nearly three feet of snow in areas, cutting off power for some folks and shutting down entire cities. While the Northeast braced for a monumental blizzard, we saw the effects right here in North Carolina, with flight cancellations out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Much like our neighbors to the North battened down and weathered the storm, our economy and energy security have been weathering President Obama’s war on American energy for years. But unlike the snow clouds that passed and made way for sunshine, President Obama’s policies continue to cast a shadow on domestic energy exploration. Under the President’s moratorium on American energy is a vast potential of lower costs, more jobs and economic security that remain untapped.

I have been a staunch advocate for getting North Carolina into the energy business and have urged the Administration to significantly expand the area available for energy development to include the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. As Co-Chair of the Atlantic Offshore Energy Caucus, I have worked to advance an all-of-the-above energy strategy that cuts through burdensome regulations and responsibly unlocks our natural resources. I’m pleased that this week, the Administration heeded our requests and announced a proposal to allow offshore natural gas and oil exploration off the Atlantic coast. I support opening up our coast to drilling, but I understand that the President’s radical ideology on climate change threatens the success of this proposal.

North Carolina is on the cusp of unlocking our own natural resources, creating thousands of jobs and boosting our economy at home through offshore drilling. There are potentially vast resources off our coastline. The challenge does not lie in finding these resources, but in man-made government regulatory hurdles that prohibit us from allocating the time and investment to develop them. Opening up the Atlantic to oil and natural gas drilling has the potential to support more than 55,000 jobs in North Carolina, and it could contribute nearly $3 billion in new revenue. One only needs to look at states like North Dakota to see the positive impact that domestic exploration has on a region and the lives of people who live there. It has the potential to keep energy costs low for families and businesses and empower manufacturers to grow. It will boost our infrastructure development, revitalize our factories and create new jobs and opportunities across our state.

While the Administration’s plan is a welcome first step, it doesn’t go far enough to fully explore and develop coastal energy right now. We should implement a more robust plan that offers more than one potential lease sale off of the Atlantic coast. I can assure you that I will be vigilant and work to guarantee that North Carolina and the eighth district benefit from drilling off our coasts, from creating construction jobs, to attracting new manufacturers. My top three priorities are jobs, jobs and jobs, and I pledge I will continue to work to create an environment for more opportunity and prosperity.

If we move forward in a smart and environmentally sound way, we can unlock energy offshore while protecting industries vital to North Carolina. Norway is a prime example that offshore energy exploration and development is compatible with the environment and other industries. The fishing industry and the oil and gas industry have safely and successfully coexisted since 1971, with both industries contributing greatly to the Norwegian economy. I’m committed to matching that record of success in North Carolina and making sure that energy off our coast is pursued in an environmentally responsible way. North American energy security, lower costs, and more jobs are within reach, and I’m committed to making those goals a reality.

(Reuters) – Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue.

The revival of middle-class jobs has been one of Obama’s mantras since he took office in 2009 fighting the worst economic crisis in generations. It was a major theme of his last State of the Union address and is expected to feature in the one scheduled for Tuesday.

Administration officials said on Saturday the president would propose higher capital gains taxes, new fees on large financial firms, and other measures to raise $320 billion for programs and tax breaks aimed at the middle class.

Obama’s administration can take credit for stabilizing the U.S. economy, which is growing again and last year added jobs at the fastest clip since 1999.

But for the middle class the scars of the recession still run deep. Federal Reserve survey data show families in the middle fifth of the income scale now earn less and their net worth is lower than when Obama took office.

In the six years through 2013, over the recession and recovery that have spanned Obama’s tenure, jobs have been added at the top and bottom of the wage scale, a Reuters analysis of labor statistics shows. In the middle, the economy has shed positions – whether in traditional trades like machining or electrical work, white-collar jobs in human resources, or technical ones like computer operators.

The trend is in plain sight in Dalton, Georgia, a manufacturing hub 90 miles (145 km)north of Atlanta. Massive factories that made it “the carpet capital of the world,” were slammed by the collapse of the housing bubble. During the recession, with machines idle, they began investing heavily in new technology and are now laying plans to restore some lost jobs.

But the new positions are more skewed to the high and low end, and there will be fewer of them per dollar of output than before the recession, said Brian Anderson, president of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce.

“We can produce a whole lot of new carpet with not a lot more people,” Anderson said. Companies have spent between $1.5 and $2 billion on retooling and innovation, reducing demand for labor, while higher than average regional unemployment continued to hold down wages, he said.

MORE INVESTMENT, FEWER JOBS

Firms like flooring giant Shaw Industries pared jobs – dropping 5,000 from a pre-recession labor force of 28,000 – but with new technology have rebuilt revenue to near previous levels. The company is boosting wages for master mechanics to around $30 an hour, but feels no pressure to increase wages for the unskilled positions it retains.

The heavy investment in robotics and mechanization has raised expectations, said Paul Richard, Shaw’s vice president of human resources. “It has put more emphasis on associates that can bring technical skills.”

Ahead of Obama’s annual address, the business community is expecting the president to press for passage of the Trans-Pacific trade treaty, though a debate rages within the Democratic Party over whether that would create more middle class jobs than would be lost to increased imports.

Others say he may seek more overtime pay for mid-level salaried workers, propose a higher federal minimum wage, or renew calls for major infrastructure spending.

Along with the tax plan, Obama has proposed expanded access to community college education and improved family leave policies, while some of his allies have called for an outright wealth transfer from the top to the middle.

For Obama’s legacy none of that may matter.

The forces at work in the American economy appear so entrenched that Obama may be remembered as the president who pulled the nation from its worst downturn since the Great Depression, but failed to arrest deepening economic inequality.

The Federal Reserve, under Obama appointee Janet Yellen, has put money in almost all Americans’ pockets with near zero interest rates that have held down mortgage payments, allowed companies to reinvest, and boosted job creation.

But the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances shows how uneven the distribution of that stimulus has been. Between 2010 and 2013, as recovery took hold and stock markets soared, the average net worth of families in the top 40 percent of income earners grew. For all others average net worth shrank, declining 19 percent for the middle fifth.

Similarly, the average earnings for families in the top 10 percent grew more than 9 percent from 2010 through 2013, while those at other levels stagnated or shrank. For the middle fifth, average earnings fell 4.6 percent.

Over the six years through 2013, the middle fifth’s average annual family earnings fell to $47,243 from $53,008 while their average net worth dropped to $170,066 from $236,525.

Obama “had a good start in ending the recession and a good start to recovery and then we were knocked off that trajectory,” said Josh Bivens, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank that advocates higher minimum wages and other policies to boost incomes.

Bivens blamed the end of stimulus programs and a standoff in Congress over the federal debt ceiling that curbed government spending for the loss of initial momentum.

To a degree the administration has also been a captive of broad technological and global trends. Automation and the offshoring of manufacturing and service jobs continue to transform industries and communities such as Dalton.

Obama’s changing rhetoric over time appears, increasingly, to acknowledge the magnitude of the challenge.

In 2011, he called the erosion of middle class jobs a “Sputnik moment” that should energize the country to out-produce and out-innovate the rest of the world. By last year, the tone was more tempered: “The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by – let alone get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all,” Obama said in last year’s State of the Union address “Our job is to reverse these trends. It won’t happen right away.”